Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2022, stage 18: Trujillo - Alto de Piornal, 192.0k

[hfer07]

If the breakaway isn't allowed to go all the way to the last climb, I Actually believe Remco himself can win the stage, since there is nobody with the team or the will to ride it properly.

I told you so
It's a done deal. Congrats to Remco for his very first GT title

 

[perico]

Looked to me like his tank was empty - took a few pedals to match the Remco sprint and the power just wasn't there.

No that's just Mas's normal sprinting ability.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Am only just now catching up with the rest of the stage (saw the last 8km or so live), Jay Vine crashed out? Poor fella, he was doing so well.

 

[303pbmf]

Everybody burned those matches

 

[Sciatic]

GC

That is a very interesting bottom half of the top 20: with veterans including 3 GT winners a couple of other GT podium guys Luis Leon Sanchez for class.

 

[KenFiamingo]

Frankly, i'm impressed by Mas. That last attack had Remco really biting his handle bars. I gues Evenepoel's solo effort earlier on the climb sort of backfired a bit.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Frankly, i'm impressed by Mas. That last attack had Remco really biting his handle bars. I gues Evenepoel's solo effort earlier on the climb sort of backfired a bit.

This is what I have been expecting of Mas since 2018. In 2020, his prep got screwed by corona and he was never the same rider. A year later, he looked a lot better, especially in the Vuelta being as strong as Roglic until he crashes and this year, he has taken another step in the spring psychically, but has nothing to show for it since he crashed left and right. In the Tour, everything went to ***, and now he's once again proving that hes so much more than your typical 5th place-follower when hes in actual good shape.

This race would be a lot different if the most difficult week was the 3rd one, but oh well.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I'm talking about in English speaking forums. Beloki was criticized every year as a conservative wheelsucker until 2003. Mancebo was always called a wheelsucker. Sastre was the cute little climber. Valverde as popular for his dog's nickname or whatever it was that Id'd him through Puerto. Contador was loathed (even here on this forum) when he was considered unbeatable. Zubeldia was an internet meme.

I'll give you Purito, and Landa, to a certain exent.

Chava, Mayo, Freire, Samu, Mosquera, Antón?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

GC

So Meintjes could sneak himself into a Top 10 once again.

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Am only just now catching up with the rest of the stage (saw the last 8km or so live), Jay Vine crashed out? Poor fella, he was doing so well.

Heartbreak for Vine, and also for Pacher, who also crashed out. Got so close yesterday as well.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Watched the last two climbs. Congratulations to Evenepoel for winning the stage. If he will take the GC then it's a good thing he was able to win a stage beyond TT. Although without Roglič in the race this obviously is a whole different beast in regards to prestige. Still a stage win is a stage win.

On a smaller scale i did get some P-N Gino Mäder vibes. But i won't go as far as on how some people reacted back then.

As for cyclists like Mas and López. If they saved a bullet for this. Then in my opinion that was not well saved bullet. But OK. I am rather indifferent in this regards now. Let the best man win and i will be OK with that.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Watched the last two climbs. Congratulations to Evenepoel for winning the stage. If he will take the GC then it's a good thing he was able to win a stage beyond TT. Although without Roglič in the race this obviously is a whole different beast in regards to prestige. Still a stage win is a stage win.

On a smaller scale i did get some P-N Gino Mäder vibes. But i won't go as far as on how some people reacted back then.

As for cyclists like Mas and López. If they saved a bullet for this. Then in my opinion that was not well saved bullet. But OK. I am rather indifferent in this regards now. Let the best man win and i will be OK with that.

Yet again, you make absolutely zero sense, but alrighty. You do you!

 

[CyclistAbi]

As for Vino and crashes in general. A rather bad Vuelta edition in this regard. Comparable to Tour levels. If you add Corona then ...

But OK. Nothing can be done.

 

[Volderke]

I'm talking about in English speaking forums. Beloki was criticized every year as a conservative wheelsucker until 2003. Mancebo was always called a wheelsucker. Sastre was the cute little climber. Valverde as popular for his dog's nickname or whatever it was that Id'd him through Puerto. Contador was loathed (even here on this forum) when he was considered unbeatable. Zubeldia was an internet meme.

I'll give you Purito, and Landa, to a certain exent.

I really liked Santiago Perez in that one Vuelta! And Cobo! And who doesn't like the elegance of Escartin on the bike...

 

[search]

So Meintjes could sneak himself into a Top 10 once again.

I think he lost it yesterday (unless Rodriguez suffers too much from his injuries). EF will try to defend their points now and not allow him to join the break, and from the peloton he looks unable to gain any time

 

[SHAD0W93]

not true


valverde
purito
indurain
landa
bilbao
zubeldia

and several others have been liked a lot


mas gets flak (the most from spaniards btw) because he has an unlikable personality and rides conservatively to put it mildly

Samu too

 

[Valv.Piti]

I really liked Santiago Perez in that one Vuelta! And Cobo! And who doesn't like the elegance of Escartin on the bike...

That would be some of the riders that I expect most people to dislike. And not without reasons. Perez and Cobo are basically laughing stocks, while I didn't experience Escartin myself, but his style was definitely something else.

Most likeable Spaniards for me has to be Alejandro, Antón, Purito and Samu. Heras was some rider as well, kinda underrated I feel, and was always on the offensive due to how the Vuelta routes were constructed back in his day. Also, most people don't have anything else on Indurain than "he was boring" (maybe apart from some dubious 90's stuff), but he was such a gentleman!

 

[ice&fire]

It's the first mountain stage that is won by a GC rider and people are saying that they should have gifted it to Gesink. In every grand tour you have stages that are won by the early break and you have stages that are won by the GC riders. Why would it be different this time around? Because of some crazy dislike for Evenepoel or Mas????

Tbh, this was a fake mountain stage

 

[SHAD0W93]

GC

Landa finally the best placed Bahrain rider.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

One of those stages where the final time gaps don't tell the full story when it comes to the entertainment value of the stage. The Vuelta has historically been able to do pretty well out of these tamer final week stages, but this finale was perhaps a little too tame for it to be all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Augurs well for Saturday though, with some ambush possibilities and even if Remco is just ironman and holds on to everything Mas throws at him (plus a couple of decently placed counterpunches to keep him from getting too predictable) there is a decent shot at some more interesting competition than might have seemed the case on paper with Rogla out.

It seems like Mas' only hope at this stage is the 'death by a thousand cuts' approach, making lots of small and seemingly inconsequential attacks rather than gambling on one big one - it's probably the right call given the need for points that Movistar have, but nevertheless even if he does manage to drop Remco at some point I don't see much likelihood that he can gain over two minutes at this point. The fact that he doesn't have the option to do a Savoldelli or an Heras '05 and use the descent after Morcuera as a chance to turn a small gap into a big one and lay down the gauntlet will limit the likelihood of anything like that you'd say.

 

[Angelo1985]

Ayuso is still in danger for the podium, Lopez in 4th he will go all out on saturday.

 

[perico]

Watched the last two climbs. Congratulations to Evenepoel for winning the stage. If he will take the GC then it's a good thing he was able to win a stage beyond TT. Although without Roglič in the race this obviously is a whole different beast in regards to prestige. Still a stage win is a stage win.

On a smaller scale i did get some P-N Gino Mäder vibes. But i won't go as far as on how some people reacted back then.

As for cyclists like Mas and López. If they saved a bullet for this. Then in my opinion that was not well saved bullet. But OK. I am rather indifferent in this regards now. Let the best man win and i will be OK with that.

No, only beating the Giro winner, the Olympic champion and perennial GT contender Carapaz, freaking Superman, and God forbid Enric Mas just doesn't have the same ring to it (sarcasm implied).

It sucks that Roglic crashed out. I like Primoz, and he's maybe the most exciting rider to watch in a GT, but he crashes a lot. Always excuses when one's favored rider doesn't win to belittle the eventual victor.

 

[Valv.Piti]

One of those stages where the final time gaps don't tell the full story when it comes to the entertainment value of the stage. The Vuelta has historically been able to do pretty well out of these tamer final week stages, but this finale was perhaps a little too tame for it to be all that important in the grand scheme of things.

Augurs well for Saturday though, with some ambush possibilities and even if Remco is just ironman and holds on to everything Mas throws at him (plus a couple of decently placed counterpunches to keep him from getting too predictable) there is a decent shot at some more interesting competition than might have seemed the case on paper with Rogla out.

It seems like Mas' only hope at this stage is the 'death by a thousand cuts' approach, making lots of small and seemingly inconsequential attacks rather than gambling on one big one - it's probably the right call given the need for points that Movistar have, but nevertheless even if he does manage to drop Remco at some point I don't see much likelihood that he can gain over two minutes at this point. The fact that he doesn't have the option to do a Savoldelli or an Heras '05 and use the descent after Morcuera as a chance to turn a small gap into a big one and lay down the gauntlet will limit the likelihood of anything like that you'd say.

I dont think the attacks today were inconsequential. There were some punch to it, especially the first one, but the problem really was that if Mas employs the Remco strategy and just goes of the front on a climb like this at peak power, Remco gives Mas the medicine that Roglic gave to Remco on Sierra Nevada. There's really no winning for Mas on a climb like this, even if he was incredibly strong today. Had to gradient just been 8%, it would have been a legitimate strategy, but it was super hard for Mas to do anything else than what he did today.

Great racing for sure though.

 

[ppanther92]

So Meintjes could sneak himself into a Top 10 once again.

He finally is able to do this again this year after 4 very bad years. So props to coming back to his previous level. Thought its rather a Aru-story slowly fading out of being a pro. He is capped at those lower top 10 results. But since he did it in the TdF already this year, a second GT top 10 in the same year would be not too shaby (and, as I said, unexpected after the last 4 seasons).

 

[perico]

Chava, Mayo, Freire, Samu, Mosquera, Antón?

Maybe I was too broad. I should've narrowed it down to those who ride for Movistar and with the exception of Jimenez, who was never seen as a real threat outside of the Vuelta, they saw their greatest successes for other teams. Euskatel riders always seemed to be shown in a better light than the bad boys from Reynolds/Banesto since they were so scrappy.